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Emergency ventilation in rapid transit stations presents interesting design challenges to fire protection engineers due to the wide range of station design characteristics and complexity of the analysis that is conducted. Requirements governing the design of these systems are addressed by various codes and standards, such as NFPA 130, and through this regulatory framework the performance of the system is required to be evaluated using engineering analysis. The evaluation of the emergency ventilation strategy is carried out relative to the tenability criteria that is established for a given project, typically through extensive use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling for defined train fire scenarios within the station.

In this presentation emergency ventilation analysis approaches are discussed and some of the key challenges are outlined. A collection of CFD analysis examples are presented to provide context to different challenges and analysis objectives that have been encountered on large rapid transit design projects. Additional important considerations that may tie directly in with the CFD evaluation, such as pedestrian/evacuation modelling, are also discussed.

Andrew Coles and Adrian Milford will address Jensen Hughes’ recent work on design of smoke movement systems and the influence of the above parameters on smoke modelling to predict conditions under certain fire scenarios in both stations, tunnels, and guideways.

Andrew has over 12 years of international experience working on projects in Canada, the USA, Australia, and the Middle East. He has extensive experience in smoke control optimization using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), passenger and evacuation modelling, and advanced flame spread modelling using CFD tools.

Andrew is active in the engineering community and has written various papers for conferences and peer reviewed journals on the topic of risk assessment and flame spread modeling. As part of the design team at JENSEN HUGHES, Mr. Coles helps deliver our fire and life safety engineering services to our clients through his significant rail experience.

Adrian Milford

Adrian is a mechanical engineer with post-graduate training to a Master’s level with a focus on combustion, heat transfer, and computational fluid dynamics. He is experienced in the analysis of fire growth, smoke movement, and occupant evacuation using a variety of software packages and methodologies.

Adrian has worked on performance-based design solutions for numerous projects including transit systems, multi-use developments, flammable liquid storage facilities, airports, and industrial plants. His experience in conducting detailed fire modelling and tunnel ventilation analysis for large-scale transit systems includes the Canada and Evergreen Lines in Vancouver, Calgary West LRT, Confederation Line in Ottawa, Eglinton Line in Toronto, and the Makkah Public Transport Program. Other work has included analysis of ventilation system performance for the Calgary Airport International Facilities Expansion and Changi International Airport in Singapore.